The invention relates to a system for indicating the firing of a perforating gun.
Referring to FIG. 1, a typical perforating gun string 10 may have several perforating guns 12. Each perforating gun 12 may have phased shaped charges 14 that are used to penetrate a casing of a subterranean well and form fractures in surrounding formations to enhance the production of well fluids from these formations. Because the shaped charges 14 may potentially inflict harm if the charges 14 prematurely detonate, several safety mechanisms typically are used to prevent accidental detonation of the shaped charges 14.
For example, the shaped charges 14 may use detonators that are constructed with secondary explosives that, as compared to primary explosives, are very difficult to detonate. To detonate these type of detonators, the perforating gun string 10 may include a firing head 11 that is associated with each perforating gun 12. In this manner, the firing head 11 may include a detonator 15 that, when activated, detonates a secondary explosive to initiate a shockwave on a detonating cord 17 that extends to the shaped charges 14. The shockwave, in turn, propagates down the detonating cord 17 and detonates the shaped charges 14.
The detonation of the perforating gun 12 may be remotely controlled from the surface of the well. To accomplish this, stimuli may be transmitted downhole to the firing head 11 to cause the detonator 15 to initiate the shockwave on the detonating cord 17. As examples of techniques that are used to transmit the stimuli, an internal passageway of the string 10, an annulus that surrounds the string 10, a tubing of the string 10, or a line (a slickline or a wireline, as examples) extending downhole may all be used. Other techniques may also be used to transmit command stimuli downhole.
Detonation of the primary explosive typically requires energy from an energy source, a source that may either be located at the surface of the well or downhole in the perforating gun string 10. If the energy source is at the surface of the well, then an operator may disconnect the energy source until firing of the perforating guns 12 is desired. However, unfortunately for the other case, connection/disconnection of a downhole energy source may present difficulties, as circuitry (not shown) of the firing head 11 must connect/disconnect the energy source. For example, a battery 16 of the string 10 may provide the energy needed to cause the detonator 15 to initiate a shockwave on the detonating cord 17. However, a problem with this arrangement is that the battery 16 is located downhole with the detonator 15. Thus, if the circuitry that couples the battery 16 to the detonator 15 should fail, the shaped charges 14 may be inadvertently detonated.
An operator at the surface of the well needs to know if the firing of a particular perforating gun 12 is successful. If not, then the operator may attempt to fire the perforating gun 12 again or disarm the perforating gun 12 before retrieving the gun 12. When the perforating gun 12 is attached to a tubing, one way to determine whether the perforating gun 12 fired is to place sensors on the tubing at the surface and monitor the acoustic energy that emanates from the tubing. However, this technique is not always reliable due to the length of the string and the contact between the string and the casing of the well, factors that may greatly attenuate acoustic signals that propagate uphole.
Thus, there is a continuing need to address one or more of the above-stated problems.
In one embodiment of the invention, a system for use in a subterranean well includes a tubing, a perforating gun, a detonator and circuitry. The detonator is adapted to fire the perforating gun. The circuitry is adapted to determine whether the perforating gun has fired and based on the determination, operate a valve of the tubing to transmit a stimulus to the surface of the well to indicate whether the perforating gun has fired.